Dead in the Family Book Review

There will definitely be some interesting discussion happening then. I can't wait!

I got mine today and finished it as well. Hmmmnnnnn. Yes, saturday will be a long wait but an interesting discussion.

I had better step up the pace, I am about half way done. I haven't been feeling well and work has been hell, so I haven't gotten finished yet! I am stoked to get finished and chat with you all about it!!

GodSpeed wrote:DONE!


Went to Target this morning and couldn't find the book on the shelves, so I did some snooping. I found the book still in the boxes, so I opened a box and took it while the employees were having a pep rally.

The same thing happened to me. I went to Target right when they opened and they didn't have it on display. I walked around the store and came back to the book section, still nothing. Finally I asked an employee if they had the book. He went into the storage to get it for me! He seemed amused about it.

Anyway, I'm also done with the book. So much to discuss.

Yep, you can't keep a trubie down

my book arrived in the mail today. a day earlier than anticipated. now to wrestle it from the kids clutches.

renee

I finished it last night, finally!
I can't wait for Saturday.

oh boy oh boy !!!! This one was interesting. I went over to Barnes and Noble ON Tuesday though I just finished the book today.

There is a LOT to say about this book ..

It looks like people are saying something about discussing it on Saturdays - is that a group thing or online thing.. just wondering???

I am soo ready for June 13th now!

Well Saturday nights we have group chat, but the boards will be open on Saturday for discussion as well. It would be 7pm our time for the chat discussion

finished!

I just finsihed it! I cant wait for tomorrow night!

It looks like others feel the same way about Suckie. hehe

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Good to know where not the only ones lol.

Since my computer is bollicky and I won't be able to chat, I thought I would put my observations here.

First of all let me say that I generaly find Charlaine Harris an interesting and entertaining writer. I have read all of her books and though they are geared toward women, I find a lot of things that would be interesting for men.

Keeping that in the fore of your mind, I wish to make a few observations about this book. I hope I offend no one.

First off, I would like to tell Charlaine that she would have a more complex story if she would simply get the peripheral characters out of the way. The only exception to this rule would be Jason and Sam. Tara and Amelia and the others were simply too busy. And if that was all she was going to do with Hunter, we would have been better off with out him in the story. Quite frankly, our Aslinn does a more intriguing job with Hunter than what CH has done. She misses great opportunities to build up mundane ones that then peter out of the. Tell the story or shut up......

Another thing I wish would happen is that Sookie would learn to keep her mouth shut. From the very beginning, in both the show and the books, Sookie has been a loudspeaker to the world of her thoughts, knowledge and desire. Repeating to people, even to Pam, that she would like the king of Nevada's emissary whacked is a very bad thing.

The matter of Bill left me a little lukewarm. First she says Bill is sickly and near death and apathetic and then he is well and energized. When CH is done with a story line she simply kills it with no thought. It like kids who write their first story: The monster chased them and ran and ran and ran then they cut his head off. The End. The bad thing about this analogy is Charlaine Harris is a seasoned author.

There doesn't seem to be a main plot. The plot she should have developed more was the situation with Eric and his maker and his maker's paramour. Instead the made much of the bother about whether his maker would force Eric to have sex with him again as he had when he first made Eric. Sookie should have been more worried about the young Alexi and there should have been more murders committed by him and more suspicion cast on Eric and Sookie by association. But that may be the male reader in me. It would have also given Victor Madden more of an edge to complain about Eric and make Eric look weak in his area to the King of Nevada and made this an edgier book with more room for speculation.

In the romance department, there should have been more to Sookie's and Eric's relationship. There should have been more romantic moments, more love scenes, and more of an emotional connection if she is going to stay with Eric. A single scene where Sookie fellates Eric on the couch in his living room does not a relationship make....Sorry, ladies, if you disagree.

The only thing I think she did well with was the way she had the scene with Latesta. It was just enough to say that "This is not over" and give us suspicions about what might happen next.

What do you ladies think? And gentlemen?

I couldn't agree more, Barrister. Charlaine regrettably focused on frivolous details and failed to take advantage of major plot line opportunities. This applies particularly to the Victor Madden storyline. Pam and Suckie killed off two of his thugs, superhero style, and there were no repercussions. Even in the supernatural Sookieverse this was not believable. Hopefully, this will be addressed in the next book.

Charlaine fell short once again with the Appius/Alexie storyline. We have been conditioned to view Eric's character as fearless and lethal, but we see him and his child Pam get their butts kicked by an adolescent psychotic vampire. It doesn't make logical sense that a vampire as old and presumably as wise as Appius would turn such an unlikely, inadequate vampire candidate. We saw with Bubba what happens when all common sense is abandoned in favor of just saving a dying human. Eric and Pam's acute senses should not have allowed them to be overcome by Alexie, despite any heritage they share. Since Appius obviously could not control Alexie, he should have been the one to kill him before he endangered the lives of others, especially Appius' other children. Again, this was just unbelievable.

One of the things I have enjoyed about the Sookie books has been the humor. What happened to the humor? Nothing was really funny. Thank God Alan Ball has a sense of humor still. Maybe Ms. Harris will be in a better mood when she writes the next book. Perhaps this book should have been called Dead in the Head.

Adding to the list of the bazaar would be Suckie's role as shaman to Alcide's werepack. Really, Charlaine? What criteria did you use to qualify her as a shaman? And, don't forget the fact that the book ends with Suckie sleeping with two fae males, both related to her. What was the point?

On a positive note, I like the possibility of Bill having a new love interest, although she may be his vampire sister. (I won't even go there.)

This is just my opinion, and I will spare everyone from further cathartic ranting. Suffice it to say I was so excited to see the story continue, but my excitement faded into disappointment by the end of the book. The more I pondered on it, the more my disappointment grew. So, to soothe myself I will simply look forward to the next book and hope this was just a hiccup. No more missed opportunities please, Ms. Harris.

I also couldn't make the chat last night so I'll share some of my own thoughts on the book.

I agree that CH missed a lot of opportunities to explore plot lines. I'll use the example of Eric explaining to Sookie why he wasn't the one that saved her from the fae. What Eric went through seemed pretty awful and justified why he couldn't go get Sookie, but at the same time I thought it was a little weak. I expected this to be a scene where Sookie wouldn't forgive him for a while (it always happens) or Eric would have held some more information from her. Instead, it just seemed like all was settled too fast especially after the build up from the last book.

I also agree about the love scenes between Eric and Sookie. Okay, I know I'm a Bill girl but I have pretty much accepted that Eric and Sookie are some sort of a couple. It just didn't seem that real to me. That sex scene at Eric's house was kind of pathetic (please don't stake me!). Yes, there were a few tender moments but it just seemed like it was more about sex. I think my big problem with this is that I wish CH would have broken the blood bond. Until that bond is broken then I can become a believer. Sookie ignored (to a degree) the mention of breaking the bond. Does she want to break from it? Has she become "addicted" to Eric and him to her? This kind of reminds me of Hugo and Isabell. I guess I'll have to wait (again) and see what happens.

Is it just me, or does Sookie seem to be acting more like Eric now? Hmm, must be the blood! A lot of people felt the need to tell her, "You have changed." I think this is important because it has been mentioned more than once. Sookie even thought about it herself that she was surprised how much she wanted some of those vampires dead. I guess we'll see if this is something that will be explored or not.

Now onto my Bill. I'm glad he was mentioned more in this book than some of the others. I wonder, though, if some of these scenes were a set up to kind of lessen his contribution into the story. It was a matter of time before the Bellefleurs would find out that Bill is related to them, that was taken care of. This kiss that Sookie and Bill had seemed like a goodbye kiss. Especially since there wasn't much mention of Sookie feeling anything (I know sister wives I don't get it). The introduction to the Judith character seemed like an idea of CH for Bill to move on in a easy way. Don't get me wrong, if this will make Bill happy and she's the right woman for him then I'm all for it. If CH doesn't explore Bill and Judith in the upcoming books then I will have known my answer. This is one of the times that I wish we had different perspectives in the books. I am glad that we finally got the backstory of why Bill was made. I had always thought (and scared) that he might have been willing but it was the same as the series. Lorena was ruthless and Bill was the victim. Judith just seemed like a character that CH thought of recently to get Bill to move on away from Sookie. Like I said before, too easy and not believable. I just hope Judith will be better than Sookie and I want her to realize it!

I will write more later :)

I don't necessarily think Sookie is acting more like Eric. I think she is acting that way more because of what she has been through having almost died, again. I know if I was attacked in that manner I would want anyone who may be a threat to me or anyone I care about dead at this point too. In this book there was no exchange of blood at all between Eric and Sookie, so I think that bond is lessening. Even with the bond fading they seem to have love for each other. But I am an Eric girl so it is not without bias that I feel this way.

As far as Judith, I agree she just seems like a random character thrown into the mix. If Lorena was so enamored with Bill why turn a woman that would only remind him of his human life. It doesn't make sense to me. But then again, this is Lorena we are talking about.

But I still maintain us Viking girls got jipped as far as Eric/Sookie interactions.

And, don't forget the fact that the book ends with Suckie sleeping with two fae males, both related to her. What was the point?

Isn't it mentioned that the Fairys are drawn towards each other, they feel better being near each other. So maybe CH was making it a point that the three of them stayed close to comfort each other.

I think over all, if you mashed all the concerns of the critiques above, you would have my opinion of the book. I think basically it was underdone and poorly edited and important plots were glossed over and unimportant things given too much time and consideration.

I think I would have liked to have seen this book explore Sookie's and Eric's relationship more and bring us closer to the conflict that we feel she is trying to build. It would have been a plot that would have carried her easily into the next three books. Charlaine needed to have fewer yes men and more no men on her side to create a richer and more developed story.

C'mon Charlaine, get with it....

I liked the book. I was so happy that it started up quickly and went full throttle until the end. I enjoyed the scenes between Pam and Sookie. I liked having Claude around. I really enjoyed having Hunter around to force Sookie to confront some personal issues regarding family, future, long term choices etc. This is the first book that I've read AFTER watching True Blood. The other ones I had read before ever watching the series. I picture all of the characters as the actors that play them EXCEPT for Sookie. My mind just doesn't make the connection between Anna Pacquin and Sookie. It's totally subconscious but interesting to me nonetheless. I pictured Basim as Sayid from Lost!!! That made me giggle.
Anyway, I'll get out of the shallow end and back to my critique. I enjoyed the book. I would have liked more scenes with Eric and Sookie but there was never a time in the book where I was bored or annoyed with the plot. It was a fun read for me. But, maybe that's all I'm looking for! My life is a little stressful right now. Who knows?

I agree with you FaerieMusk. I really enjoyed the book as well. It seemed to be more lighthearted than previous installments, and I think that is exactly what Sookie needed after the torture thing. One thing I try to keep in mind is that CH said this would be all about family ties, obviously, hence the title Dead in the Family. So as much as I want to get upset that Victor didn't get taken out, I can't. That will be a big fight, one that spans a couple books, they set us up for book 11 and where things lie ahead.

I loved Claude's interaction with Hunter, and his general disposition change. I am so used to seeing him surly and rude, that this was such a refreshing change of pace for me. It is nice to see him act human for a change. I also loved how Bill got to find some happiness in all of this. Bill has been kicked around for a long time and he needs it. Plus it could cause a nice little conflict later on, although I kinda hope not. I want to see him happy with someone who appreciates him. My one disappointment was with the feeling of tacked on explanation from Eric about the regions. It felt a little unnecessary and maybe should have been explained at a different time.

That is all I have for now. I will add to this as I remember more

P.S. I totally got the Sayid vibe from Basim as well

I was a bit disappointed BUT I was never really bored. This book did not grab me as much as the others, but I think it is a bit of a bridge book. It is setting up the future conflicts. And I also liked how she started to realize that she would be getting old while Eric and even Bill will be the same. So, with the pros being said, I need to point out my cons. I feel like there should have been more explanation of Appius and Eric. I understand he was his maker, but it felt like he was kind of tacked on. I actually felt like a lot was tacked on. Bill's "sister" just magically shows up and they fall back to loving each other. I have a feeling that Bill isn't being pushed away just yet though, that was too easy.

I don't know, this book was just blah to me. Nothing strong, nothing intense, but it wasn't the worst thing I have ever read. I am still anxious for the next one.

I finished it last night, and I concur with pretty much everything that has already been said. To me, it seemed that every conflict was wrapped up a little too easily. I hated the whole shaman thing, and found the Eric scenes sort of boring (I know... blasphemy) I had a harder time staying interested in this one. It took me about 5 days to read it instead of the all-night, can't put it down, read in 5 hours from the last book. Maybe it should have been called "Bored in the Family". I did enjoy Sayid being in the book. Wonder if CH is a Lost fan?

NevadaTypeA+ wrote: I did enjoy Sayid being in the book. Wonder if CH is a Lost fan?

I love that I was not alone in that connection!!! So funny.

Another thought...I wonder if CH told AB about this storyline with Eric's maker before he created the Godric storyline. If they get this far with the TV series it will be quite interesting how they navigate around this. I guess it could just as easily be an old vampire that Eric has to cater to because he is indebted to him for whatever reason. Not sure. Hmm... Perhaps less creepy homoerotic dusty vampires and more foxy fairies and kick-ass Pam scenes. YES!!!

I second that... More Fairies!